Delhi gets 10-year plan for road repair, upkeep
Summary:
The Delhi government intends to repair and beautify 1,400 km of roads under the Public Works Department (PWD), starting from April 1. Under this project the Delhi government intends to repair broken pavements, central verges, manholes, slabs, signage, electric poles, railings, lights and foot overbridges. An agency will be given a 10-year contract for maintenance and upkeep and it will be responsible for repairing any damage within 24 hours. The agency will also be responsible for resurfacing the roads twice in 10 years. The government will give a 10-year contract to an agency for the planting of trees in the central verges and along the roads. The agency will be responsible for daily maintenance, trimming, soil upkeep and watering of such plants. The project is estimated to cost Rs 4,500 crore in the first year and Rs 2,000 crore in the following years.
Displaced, out of work, Kathputli Colonyresidents struggle to survive 5 years on
Summary:
Five years after the Delhi Development Authority (DDA) demolished the Kathputli Colony slum cluster, residents who were relocated to the Narela housing colony in the city struggle to make ends meet. There are not enough customers in the largely uninhabited area to support residents' makeshift shops and there are few employment opportunities nearby. Public transport is limited, with just two buses that service the area. Many residents say they were happier in the slum cluster, where they felt a sense of community, and feel neglected and confined in their new surroundings.
TMC’s response to Saket Gokhale’s arrest leaves many guessing
Summary:
The arrest of Trinamool Congress spokesperson Sanket Gokhale by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on charges of money laundering has evoked a lukewarm response from his party's leadership. The party leadership previously supported Gokhale when he was arrested by Gujarat police, but has not reacted to his recent arrest. Party sources suggest that the charges are more serious this time and the party wants to distance itself from Gokhale. The ED accused Gokhale of laundering funds collected through crowdfunding.
Soon, Delhi’s air pollution sources would be available in real time
Summary:
Delhi's Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government is set to launch a new website to display real-time data on the different sources of air pollution and their percentages in the city. The data will be collected by a "super site" and mobile laboratory (a lab-on-van) capturing air pollution readings and sources from different parts of the city. The website will be launched after initial monitoring of real-time data and is expected to put an end to the frequent disagreements between the Delhi and Central governments over what causes pollution in the city. The data will help the government more effectively identify the sources of air pollution and take action to curb them.
Researchers offer tips to save Kerala’s sinking island
Summary:
A study by the National Centre for Earth Science Studies has revealed that anthropogenic interventions are the main reason for the plight of Munroe Thuruthu residents, who are facing steady land subsidence, tidal flooding, and lower agricultural productivity. The study proposes reverse landscaping and sustainable management plans to retrieve the original geomorphic state, including measures to control sand mining and better construction techniques. The study also recommends artificial sedimentation to eradicate the saline banks, and calls for suitable strategies to protect the highly vulnerable estuarine ecosystem. The research found that almost 39% of the land area has been lost, and blames unregulated sand mining, the construction of the Thenmala dam, and climate change for the degradation.
Same case, two orders: SC leaves it to Madras HC to take corrective measures
Summary:
The Supreme Court has referred a case to the Madras High Court to take necessary measures after an order pronounced and signed by judges in open court underwent substantial modifications. The Madras High Court Registrar-General submitted a report to the Supreme Court, which was perused by a bench led by Justice Ajay Rastogi. The Supreme Court set aside the order in question and asked the High Court to decide the applications afresh. The Supreme Court also agreed to maintain the order of interim status quo for a period of 6 weeks. The case involves allegations of diversion of funds from a public charitable trust to a company and the subsequent alienation of these assets through transfer to another company.
4 arrested in Chhattisgarh coal levy scam; remanded in ED custody for 3 days
Summary:
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested four more people in connection to money laundering linked to a coal extortion racket in Chhattisgarh. The ED has attached assets worth ₹152.5 crore in the case. The accused were sent to ED custody for three days. The investigation is based on findings from the Income Tax Department from searches conducted in June-July 2022. The racket started after a change in the online process of issuing e-permits for transporting coal, making a manual NOC mandatory to obtain. More than 30,000 NOCs were issued without following standard procedure, and the officials' roles were unclear. Each buyer or transporter had to pay ₹25 per tonne to the syndicate to obtain the NOC, generating an estimated ₹2-3 crore daily. The cartel is believed to have collected over ₹500 crore in two years.
Regulate big projects in the Himalayas, demands SJM
Summary:
Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an affiliate of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, has called for several "overambitious" projects in the Himalayas of Uttarakhand to be stopped due to the irreversible damage they are causing to the state. During a round-table conference organized by the Manch, participants demanded that the entire Himalayas be declared an "eco-sensitive zone" to prevent further environmental damage and preserve various rivers originating from the glaciers.
BJP to contest in 55 seats in Tripura election, ‘old ally’ IPFT to fight in five
Summary:
The BJP and the Indigenous People’s Front of Tripura have finalized a seat-sharing agreement for the upcoming Tripura Assembly election on February 16, with the IPFT receiving 5 constituencies, 4 less than in the 2018 election. The BJP will contest 55 constituencies in its bid to retain power in the state with a 60-member Assembly. The party has released the names of 54 candidates, including 11 women, and dropped 4 MLAs. The BJP and IPFT partnered in the 2018 election and won 44 seats, with the BJP winning 36 and the IPFT 8. The major party of the Left Front, the CPI(M), is contesting the election in alliance with the Congress. The IPFT leader said the party will contest in the 5 seats in association with the BJP and did not raise the Tripuraland State demand for the past 5 years due to the good works of the BJP-led governments.
‘Need mechanism for citizens to directly petition Parliament’
Summary:
The Delhi government intends to repair and beautify 1,400 km of roads under the Public Works Department (PWD), starting from April 1. Under this project the Delhi government intends to repair broken pavements, central verges, manholes, slabs, signage, electric poles, railings, lights and foot overbridges. An agency will be given a 10-year contract for maintenance and upkeep and it will be responsible for repairing any damage within 24 hours. The agency will also be responsible for resurfacing the roads twice in 10 years. The government will give a 10-year contract to an agency for the planting of trees in the central verges and along the roads. The agency will be responsible for daily maintenance, trimming, soil upkeep and watering of such plants. The project is estimated to cost Rs 4,500 crore in the first year and Rs 2,000 crore in the following years.
SC presses need for reform on tedious bail processes
Summary:
Justice Sanjay Kaul, the second senior-most judge in the Supreme Court of India, has called for the government to come up with innovative solutions to reduce the number of bail cases that are being challenged all the way to the Supreme Court. He states that the high influx of such cases is creating a backlog that could take 300 to 700 years to be disposed of. He believes that the philosophy of punishing people by keeping them in prison needs to be abandoned, and that the focus should be on individual liberty. He spoke at a recent conference in Varanasi and made these comments a couple of months after the Supreme Court decided to give priority to pending bail petitions.
Palestinian gunman kills 7 near Jerusalem synagogue
Summary:
A Palestinian gunman killed seven people and wounded three others in a shooting outside a synagogue in east Jerusalem on Friday night. The attack was the deadliest in years and followed an Israeli military raid that killed nine people in the West Bank. The shooting set off celebrations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and posed a challenge for Israel's new ultranationalist government, which has pushed for a hard line against Palestinian violence. The U.S. condemned the attack and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would act with determination and composure but called on the public not to take the law into their own hands. In a separate incident, a 13-year-old Palestinian opened fire in east Jerusalem, wounding two Israelis.
14 killed in Ukraine attack on Lugansk hospital, says Russia
Summary:
The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian forces of striking a hospital in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine with US-made HIMARS rockets, leading to 14 deaths and 24 injuries. Meanwhile, three civilians were killed and two others injured in a Russian strike on the city of Konstantynivka in eastern Ukraine.
90 fossil nests belonging to India’s largest dinosaurs uncovered
Summary:
Researchers have found 92 nesting sites with 256 fossil eggs belonging to titanosaurs (large dinosaurs) in the Narmada Valley in central India. The findings, published in PLOS ONE, provide insight into the lives of these dinosaurs. Six different egg species were identified, indicating a high diversity of titanosaurs, and the nests' layout shows that they buried their eggs shallowly like crocodiles. Pathologies in the eggs suggest they had reproductive physiology similar to birds, and the close spacing of the nests suggests they exhibited colonial nesting behavior like modern birds but left the hatchlings to fend for themselves. The fossil nests provide significant information about some of the largest dinosaurs in history, contributing to paleontologists' understanding of how dinosaurs lived and evolved
Domestic goat as a drug factory.
Summary:
The domestic goat has been a major economic contributor for humans for over 10,000 years and is found in many rural areas in India and other developing countries. India has 150 million goats from over 20 breeds, including the Marwari, Osmanabadi, Malabari, and Black Bengal. The goat has played a crucial role for the rural poor, especially in Bangladesh where the Black Bengal goat provides over 20 million square feet of skin and hides. The goat's genes have spread to other parts of the world through steamships, with the Jamunapari breed of Uttar Pradesh being a favored breed for its milk production. Biotechnology companies are interested in producing therapeutic proteins using goats, with some success in producing antithrombin III and cetuximab as anti-cancer drugs in cloned goat lines.
Why is SC examining marriage laws for minors?
Summary:
The Supreme Court of India is looking into the case of child marriages of 15-year-old girls on the basis of custom or personal law. The legal age for marriage is 18 for women and 21 for men. In 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that sexual intercourse between a man and his underage wife is considered rape. The Prohibition of Child Marriage Amendment Bill 2021 sought to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 but was referred to a parliamentary committee. The Assam government has decreed that men who marry minor girls will be booked under stringent laws that prescribe imprisonment from 2 years to life. There are 70 districts in 13 states where child marriages are prevalent, and activists are working to prevent and reduce child marriage.
The Child Marriage Amendment Bill 2021 is a proposed amendment to the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA), 2006 in India. The proposed amendment seeks to increase the minimum age of marriage for women from 18 to 21 years. The bill was referred to a parliamentary standing committee in December 2021 for further deliberation and has already received three extensions to submit its report, with the last being in October 2022.
A pragmatic and predictable tax regime, to help energise India’s growth ambition
Summary:
The 2023 Budget may include the implementation of global minimum tax as proposed under Pillar 2 of the G20/OECD proposals, and the harmonization of the capital gains tax regime. The biggest change in international taxation is the G20/OECD's proposal for a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction global minimum tax of 15% on large multinational enterprises, which will be implemented from 2024 by about 135 countries. The government plans to revisit the capital gains tax regime and roll out draft legislation in the Budget. To finance India's climate and sustainability goals and make it more efficient for startups, the government may exempt investors from interest and capital gains on green bonds and provide accelerated tax depreciation for assets acquired from green bond proceeds. The National Green Hydrogen Mission and the incentives for start-ups may also be discussed in the Budget.